Narrative DeliveryFoundational
Point of View
The vantage from which the story is told.
Principle
POV is not a technique; it is a contract about whose mind we may enter.
Takeaways
- First person grants intimacy at the cost of breadth.
- Third limited grants flexibility while preserving focus.
- Third omniscient grants reach at the cost of intimacy.
- Second person addresses the reader and refuses to settle.
Overview
Point of view governs whose perception, knowledge, and language the prose adopts. It controls what the reader can see, feel, and infer, and it is the most consequential choice in narrative delivery.
Examples
- A first-person narrator who hides their guilt from themselves.
- A third-limited POV that briefly slips into a stranger's mind.
- An omniscient narrator who comments on the period.